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The use of animal models has been crucial to our understanding of the causation, progression and therapeutic management of disease. The rapid ventricular pacing model of heart failure (HF) in sheep closely replicates the haemodynamic, endocrine and metabolic characteristics of severe human HF, and has been utilized extensively in the study of key and newly discovered hormones implicated in the pathophysiology of the syndrome. The large body size and blood volume of the sheep enable comprehensive instrumentation to provide diverse and multiple haemodynamic measurements and allow repeated blood and urine sampling – all of which are vital in capturing an integrated picture of the biological effects of HF and determining intersystem inter-relationships. This review focuses on the urocortin peptides as an example showing the range of studies carried out in this ovine model to help elucidate the pathophysiological role and therapeutic potential of a hormone in HF.

Department of Medicine, Christchurch Heart Institute, University of Otago, Christchurch, New Zealand